Dirty Mouth
by Maggiejumps4cheese
Summary: "Well?" He asked, tightening his grip on my hair and making me stand on the tips of my toes. "Act like ya heard me ya dumb bitch" "I got it!" I rushed out, still trying to arch my body in the direction he was yanking. "I got it, please let go, fuck" He snickered and released me, letting me bend my body away from him as i sunk into a cower. "Like the way you say that word girl"
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! I'm still writing that other story but i just don't want to rush it. In the meantime i still needed Mac though, and it's annoying to have to keep him bridled because Calli is pregnant and he cant hurt her. So, here we are.**

 **Dirty Mouth**

 **(A love story)**

 **Lilly**

When i woke up I couldn't move. There was some kind of fabric over my eyes and my arms were yoked at the wrist to something above my head. I was on something soft, a bed that creaked when I tried to roll over onto my stomach, and my movements sent something clattering to the floor. The commotion had me scrunching my eyes closed behind the blindfold, wincing at the loud sound it made. A noise responded from somewhere nearby, and soon heavy footsteps were echoing closer to me.

"Help!" I cried out, my mouth dry but otherwise unencumbered. "Help, pleas-"

A door swung open somewhere off to the left of me, a loud and lengthy creak that cut me off and shut me up. I waited for whoever had entered the room to announce themselves. When they didn't, my panic rose like fizz to bubble out of my throat.

"Hello? Is someone there?" I lifted my head to point it in the direction the sound had come even though I couldn't see. "What's going on?"

I almost didn't hear the sound of a throat clearing over the noise my struggles made. My breath was coming out in bursts through my teeth as i tried uselessly to wrench my wrists free of whatever was holding them down.

"Quit that" a voice, deep and full of gravel, barked at me. "Yer only guna hurt yerself"

Hearing the distinct, undeniable testosterone in his voice made me scream and jerk my arms harder. A painful itch began to form on the delicate skin encircling my wrists as i let the panic react for me, the abrasive rope digging into my skin and cutting with each pull and tug.

"I said fuckin' quit it!"

The sound of being yelled at, specifically by a man that I couldn't see, made me freeze instantly. He snickered and i felt his hand on my bare leg.

"Good girl"

Emotion rolled through me like waves gathering energy in a storm. I erupted, spasming my whole body so that my hips came off the bed and my wrists started to burn. His snicker turned into full blown laughter as he spread his hands over my hips to keep me pinned to the mattress, gripping and digging his fingers into my hips bones so hard that I gasped.

"Easy now," he coaxed me, pinching hard so that i whimpered and dropped my body away from him. "That's it girl, be easy"

I felt his hand grab one of my arms and turn it so that the soft part of my elbow was facing him. He slapped the skin there hard and continued to hold my arm still, forcing what could only be a needle into the vein he had raised. Whatever he injected into me was like a confetti gun going off in my brain, sending me gently backwards into the pillow and knocking me out completely.

When i woke the second time i still couldn't see, but when i moved my arms to try and itch my face i was surprised when i realized i could move them. I immediately went for the blindfold, wrapping my fingers around it and preparing to pull it off, when i heard the deep voice again.

"Leave it"

Trembling, i left the blindfold on but didn't move my hand from it. I wanted so badly just to rip it away, to throw it as far from me as i possibly could, but something about the sound of his voice made me hesitant. Slowly, and because i wasn't sure i had the courage to speak, i licked my lips to try and moisten my mouth.

"Do you want water?" The voice asked.

I nodded, itching my face again and rolling onto my side to push myself up. My whole body felt sore, as if i had fallen off a mountain or something. There were parts of me i didn't know were possible to injure, and each move i made sent the discomfort radiating through my body.

A cold, wet water bottle pressed against my lips and i jolted at the unexpected contact, trying to jump back and away from it only to have him grab the back of my head and keep me close. I reached for the bottle but he took it back. We did that a few times, him trying to put it to my lips and me trying to take the bottle into my hands before i finally realized he wanted to feed it to me. Thirsty and unable to argue with the firm grip on the back of my neck, i let him. He let me take a few big sips and then tilted the bottle away so that I wouldn't choke on it.

"More" i gasped.

I didn't even register he'd hit me until I realized i was on the floor. My cheek ached and i could taste blood in my mouth. When his boots moved beneath my stomach and i realized i had landed across them. I went to move the blindfold out of the way, purely out of reflex, and he grabbed my hair by the roots to haul me back up in front of him.

"Argh!" I yelled, abandoning the blindfold to grab for his wrists and try to alleviate the pressure on my scalp. "fuck!"

"You don't make demands, you got that?"

His movements were so rough that it was eerie to hear how calm he sounded. He wasn't drunk or high, he was speaking casually, as though he hadn't just clobbered me to the floor for no reason.

"Well?" He asked, tightening his grip on my hair and making me stand on the tips of my toes. "Act like ya heard me ya dumb bitch"

"I got it!" I rushed out, still trying to arch my body in the direction he was yanking. "I got it, please let go, fuck"

He snickered and released me, letting me bend my body away from him as i sunk into a cower.

"Like the way you say that word girl"

I waited, blind at his feet with my back pressed against the side of the bed. It was maddening not to be able to see him, to not know what the room looked like, but i managed not to reach my hand towards whatever he had tied around my eyes.

"Get back up here" he said after a moment.

The sound of the still half-full water bottle sloshing around in his hand helped me to focus. First things first, i needed to drink. Using the bed to drag myself back up, i sat in front of him. I jumped a little when his knee bumped against mine and the sound of his amusement made my cheeks start to get hot.

"Put yer hands in yer lap"

A tremor started somewhere in my spine and began to spread painfully along my shoulders and back.I forced my hands down to rest them like he instructed, but i had to dig my nails into the tender flesh of my palm to keep from screaming in frustration.

"Now open yer mouth"

I tried to do what he said but at the last second hesitated, quickly clamping my lips closed again. His breathing changed as he watched me struggle to obey him, and i heard him shift on his feet as he tried to be patient. Trying to relax my jaw muscles, i opened my mouth just slightly. I could feel how bad i was shaking with the effort it took not to completely cave in on myself, but i hoped he would relent and let me drink.

He was quiet for a moment, squeezing the bottle gently in his hand so that i could hear the bottle crinkling and gently sloshing the contents. I could hear myself whimper in the following silence. Then came the sound of his zipper.

"Wider"

I cringed, curling away from him and trying to cover my mouth but he caught my wrist and kept me from retreating.

"You want this water er not?" He teased me, shaking me in place and smashing the bottle against my lips. "C'mon, open up"

The remaining water rushed out of the bottle and over my face, most of it running down my neck but some of it pouring into my coughing, sputtering throat. I shot my arms out in front of me to try and knock him back but his chest was like a brick wall. No amount of twisting or turning could get me away from him, and my lips hurt from the mouth of the bottle being crushed against them. Eventually the flimsy plastic crumpled in his grip and he tossed it away from us. He kept his grip on the back of my neck though, letting me pull back slightly but keeping me trapped in front of him.

"Whaddya say"

I was too far gone with fear to do anything but try and scramble for my freedom, pulling at his knuckles and trying to get them to release my scalp. He hit me again, knocking my head to the side but keeping me upright by his grip on my hair.

"I said whaddya say" he repeated, louder and much easier to focus on. "C'mon yer a smart girl this should be easy"

"Th-thank you"

I waited while he started to snicker and pull me back towards him, unsure of what he wanted me to do. When i collided when his chest i tried to move back but he wrapped his other arm around my shoulders and held me firmly, finally relaxing his grip on my scalp and instead massaging the pain away with the tips of his fingers. I could hear him smelling me, could feel him press his nose against my hair to inhale and then drop his face lower to press into the nape of my neck.

He was so strong. The sheer size of him engulfed me but that wasn't what made my heart race. It was his density, the solidness of the muscles i could feel shifting and contracting beneath his warm skin. Even right now, when he was barely exerting himself, i could feel the strength that lay dormant in him. He was a solid mass, some kind of immovable obstacle. I took a deep breath in, trying to calm myself, but it was a mistake. He smelled like the sun and motor oil, warm black liquid shimmering with a thin rainbow on the surface of pavement. The heat that he radiated from beneath his shirt made me accidentally nuzzle further into him, seeking the warmth once i realized how cold i was. A deep humming noise came from above me, vibrating through his chest and into mine. His arms tightened around me and a new heat came from his mouth as he opened it to suck on the pulse point on my neck.

I stiffened, my arms folded up in front of me and trapped against his chest. I tried to brace my wrist bones against him and push back but he was too strong. It was as if his arms hardened into steel bars as soon as he chose to actually engage the muscles there, and i was helpless to stop him from pulling me closer and lapping at my skin.

My senses were all caught in a blender, complete with the distracting 'whirling' noise it makes as it mixes them. I couldn't think straight. His mouth felt good but i knew it was wrong to enjoy it. Emotions battled for dominance on a confusing battlefield, and i had little choice but to just let it happen. One hand moved down my body, smoothing over the curves of it until it found my ass and started kneading it. He moaned as he rocked his pelvis up into me, bringing the other hand back up to my scalp to gently tug my head to the side.

His teeth pinched my skin and i jolted, my instincts finally arriving and insisting that i fight. I felt him smile against me as i let the panic out, my body spasming without heed to the damage it could inflict on itself. He let me struggle in his arms for a minute, chuckling slightly under his breath, before i heard the sharp intake of air he took right before a blinding pain knocked into my temple. There wasn't any way to even realize when my world blinked out, i was simply ushered from one darkness to the next.

XxXxXxXx

Mac retied the girl to the bed frame. He had left her untied last time to give her wrists a break, but he needed to go out and didn't want her to be able to take the blindfold off. He wasn't worried about her escaping, but he wanted to keep her in the dark. Sight was probably the most comforting of all the senses, giving you a type of control over your surroundings, so it was the best one to take away. The girl needed to know she had no control, and the quicker she learned to rely on him the better off she'd be.

She had given herself a pretty good rope burn the last time she was tied up and it was annoying to him to have to dress and care for the wounds she created. He wanted to be the one to give her scars, not some stupid fraying rope that she didn't have the common sense not to jerk her wrists in.

He let his eyes wander over her, choosing to ignore the blonde dreads and instead focus on the way her brow furrowed in her sleep. Maybe she was having a nightmare. The thought made him smile and brush his finger against her cheek as if he were fond of her but she shivered when he touched her and tried to roll away. The bindings prevented it but it still made him expel a huff of air through his nose in frustration. He just needed time. After what he'd seen in the parking lot the other day, he knew she didn't have enough self-esteem to resist him for very long.

 _ **2 days earlier**_

Lilly could hear Travis yelling at her but she wasn't really listening. She huffed out a breath, digging her hands under the straps of her pack near her shoulders to try and alleviate the weight as he walked. She didn't turn to look back at him as she stalked off, didn't want to see his face. She knew just the shape it had contorted into, and he was ugly when he got angry.

Her mind was reeling and rattling off her options. Travis was the one with the connect to the grow she was going to work at but she didn't know if that was even a real option. She'd never met the guy they were waiting on a ride from, he could just tell her he had enough workers and she'd be shit out of luck. She knew Travis would vouch for her but she wasn't sure she could even handle his mood swings anymore. He acted like such a child sometimes and she knew she was only tolerating it because she needed something from him. Frowning, she let her feet carry her further away from him. She needed to cool off. He had just started screaming at her because she didn't have any money stashed away to give to him like she usually did.

'C'mon Lil,' he had drawled, touching her hip bone while he came up beside her. 'let's split a beer while we wait, ladies choice'

He thought he was being cute but she had to turn her face away so he wouldn't notice how annoyed she was.

'I dont have any money Travis I told you, that twenty-spot I gave the guy for gas was all I had left'

Realizing he wasn't about to get what he wanted, Travis erupted.

'Well why the fuck did you do that you dumb bitch?'

She had stopped listening as soon as he started ranting. There was no point trying to reason with him now. He always saw himself as the victim and anything she tried to say now would just be viewed as an attack. Sighing, tired and dirty, she let her body react on a trigger, slinging her pack onto her shoulder and walking away from him.

'Adorable' he shouted after her, trying to weaken her resolve 'where the fuck do you think you're guna go?

She shut her eyes against his voice and matched her breathing to her footsteps. Once she had passed in front of the store she was on the other side of the parking lot and out of sight. After waiting a moment to make sure he wasn't following, she let herself stop to hold court in her head. Her body wandered into the shade as she thought about what to do next. She could hitch a ride or just look for work without him, craft a shitty cardboard sign with a drawing of scissors on it and hope someone thought she was cute. She sighed and put her face in her hands, muttering to herself as an unfamiliar voice got louder and louder.

'What're you deaf?'

She had been so absorbed in her thoughts that she hadn't realized someone had been trying to get her attention. She tried to look up at the voice but the sunlight lanced her eyes painfully. Wincing, she dropped them and pressed her fingers into the sockets to relieve the searing burn.

'What?' She asked, annoyed at the interruption and the pain.

'I said move girl, what're ya tryin' ta do? get run over?'

She scoffed, thinking that it didn't sound like such a bad idea, but obliged him, pulling her legs in closer to her body and out of the tires path. It irritated her that she wasn't being aware of her surroundings, and after the stranger continued to stare down at her instead of leaving, she snapped.

'What, dude? Just fucking go. I was just trying to get out of the sun'

'That guy back there yer boyfriend?'

'What?' She chanced another glance up at him, this time using her hand to shield her eyes but still couldn't see him clearly.

'Whole place heard him cussin' at ya'

She didn't know how to reply. Silent seconds passed by awkwardly and she noticed her pulse rising as she waited for him to leave. He didn't though. She watched his legs shift in front of her and heard him set something down in the bed of his truck. She was momentarily fascinated by his work boots; filthy with oil and dirt, a large rip at the toe revealing the shine of steal underneath. Randomly, she wondered how heavy it felt to walk in them.

'Wanna make 'em mad?' The man with the deep voice asked.

Caught off guard, she looked up for a third time, finally seeing his face now that he had moved to lean on the tailgate. There was dirt on it. That or he had the beginnings of a beard forming in the hollows of his cheeks, it was difficult to tell the way the shadows fell on him. His face was handsome though, that much was clear. His jaw was like a tiny heart beat in his cheek as he clenched and unclenched it, waiting. She couldn't tell what color his eyes were from the ground, but they were narrowing, losing interest as she stalled. She scoffed again but it quickly turned into a laugh as she allowed her imagination to run wild at the strangers inquiry.

'Kinda' she admitted.

'Git in then'

He didn't miss a beat when he said it, as if they already knew each other and he was telling her he was ready to go. She felt something in her chest shift at the way he spoke to her, something that wanted to expand. Confidence came off of him in waves as he moved past her, grabbing her pack and slinging it into the bed of his truck on his way to the driver side door. She was still trying to figure out what had taken place in her rib cage when she realized her feet had decided for her, jumping at the strangers command and carrying her excitedly to the passenger seat.

Sliding across the worn bench seat to join him by the steering wheel, she took the styrofoam cup that he handed her. The contents were warm and it sounded like something solid was sloshing around inside of the liquid.

'Ew what's in here?' She asked as he started the engine and threw it into reverse.

'You don' wanna know' he answered, his arm stretched out behind her as he turned to watch the tailgate swing out. 'think you can hit him with it?'

Instantly delighted by the idea, Lilly scooted her body back towards the open passenger window. She griped the hot metal roof with her free hand and lifted herself out to find a seat on the door. The wind played with her hair as the truck slowly accelerated. She scanned the crowd that occupied the small hill side, glancing over the faces of other traveling kids seeking work until she found him. He was talking on his cell phone near a group of other people, his eyes down as he paced the side walk. She unsecured the plastic lid of the cup and gagged slightly when the smell escaped, whatever had been in there had long ago curdled and soured in the hot California sun.

The people he was near saw her coming and pointed but Travis remained oblivious. 'Good' she thought as the truck got closer. He had embarrassed her so many times in public, yelling at her, shoving her when he was drunk. She was glad people were about to witness her finally make a fool of him.

She realized she was giggling. She couldn't help the feeling that spread from her smiling mouth, moving quick and electric through her body. The pleasure shimmered down her spine, spiking when he looked up from his shoes and finally saw her coming. There wasn't time for him to do anything but react facially. Recognition was quickly replaced with surprise, followed finally by horror as he realized what was happening.

Heart hammering, she drew back her arm and snapped her elbow forward. She kept her eyes trained on him as she released the cup from her fist, and a few stray drops of the mystery sludge dotted the hood of the truck as it flew over.

'Fuck you!' She hollered as loud as she could. The cup sailed through the air, liquid spilling from the rim. He opened his mouth to yell back at her but she was already zipping by.

Whipping her body back to see as the truck accelerated away, Lilly was able to just catch the sight of the cup making contact with its target. Travis and the group of kids flinched in unison as the liquid shot out in all directions, and she erupted in unchecked laughter. The cup had hit him square in his open mouth, it had been perfect. Her body was still vibrating when she tucked herself back into the cab of the truck and she had to cover her mouth to keep from screaming with excitement. She was high off the adrenaline coursing through her, it felt amazing.

'Nice shot' the man beside her grunted as he shifted the truck into a higher gear. They were on the main road now, the parking lot and the sound of people yelling drifting fast behind them.

'Holy shit' she breathed out, savoring the sensation as it weakened. 'I cant believe I just did that'

'Bet he cant either' he replied.

The hand that wasn't on the steering wheel was at his mouth. He had his thumb trapped between his teeth, chewing as if he were trying to pull the end of a stubborn nail out.

'Thanks for that' she said turning her body to watch out the window. She craned her head to look back, half imaging the sight of Travis running into the road and after her. She could see the corner of her bag laying among his groceries in the tailgate, and for some reason the sight of it startled her. She realized she was going to have to figure out a new plan now.

The notion that she had just ditched the only person she knew and gotten into the car with a complete stranger was slowly sinking in, replacing the thrill she had felt before. It wasn't as if she couldn't handle it, she had been on her own plenty of times and every time she hitched she got into a strangers car, but she had just ditched her plans completely on a total whim because she was mad.

She wondered if she had made the right choice. Maybe she would have cooled down eventually, or found a couple bucks at the bottom of her bag. Or, they could have spanged enough money for a beer and just relaxed while they waited for the ride he swore was coming. Maybe he would have apologized or maybe the place they were headed was really nice and they would make a ton of money.

Then again, there had been dozens of kids just like her milling around that general store. Each one had a friend who knew someone with a grow and yet each one was there with a flimsy cardboard sign requesting work. She doubted she would have done anything but sat next to Travis in that hot, crowded picnic area for hours waiting for their fabled ride. Sitting in the rushing breeze next to this guy was a better option than that, she finally resolved. After all, she hated that guy Travis. She had only stuck around because he had promised her work. She was glad to finally be free of him, even if it had been a hasty decision. She wondered if she was supposed to broach the subject of what to do next or if the man was going to. He hadn't said anything after she'd thanked him and the silence had begun to get stale.

'Is there any other kind of store around here?' She asked, looking out the dashboard glass as though she would be able to see one coming. 'any place you could drop me at that I could get a ride out of?'

'Where you going?'

She shrugged, sitting back into her seat and fidgeting with her hands in her lap.

'Dunno yet, ill have to see what happens'

'You don' live around here?'

'No, im just traveling through. I was looking for trim work'

'Huh' he scoffed, scowling down at his nail and then beginning to chew on it again.

'Do you know of any? Work, i mean'

'Nope'

The way he said it, popping the 'p' as he stared straight ahead, made it seem final somehow, like she shouldn't keep talking about it. Anger started to form like an acid in the pit of her stomach, licking up her throat in flames.

'Why'd you do that?' She asked suddenly, the words tumbling out of her mouth as if expelled by steam. She hadn't planned on saying anything else to him but somehow it had just happened.

'Do what?'

She swallowed and was surprised at how much it ached. Her throat felt raw from yelling to be heard over the roar of the truck earlier.

'Nothing' she said shaking her head to try and force the tears away. 'never mind'

It wasn't that she had been expecting anything from this stranger, but his sudden coldness was making her regret her choice to get in his truck. The sound of the tires filled the cab. He lit a cigarette and she shut her eyes to focus on the sound of the paper burning. She listened to him exhale and cough to clear his throat.

'So was that yer boyfriend?'

She snickered mockingly at the idea and picked at a scab on her hand.

'No. I just got stuck traveling with him'

The man nodded his head at that, seeming to understand.

'He said he could get me work but I doubt it. He was just a mean drunk'

'There any other kind?'

'I dunno,' she responded distractedly, staring out the window as the world rushed by. 'Slutty, I guess'

'So which one are you'

The atmosphere changed instantly in the cab, cooling and becoming eerily still. She realized that in her excitement she had left her knife in the front pocket of her pack, something she usually never let herself get separated from. Smoothing her hands over her knees and willing herself to relax, Lilly tried to recover the conversation.

'Uh, I guess I can get kinda feisty,' she stammered, picking at the torn fiber of her jeans. 'what about you?'

She looked up to him, trying to act casual but then instantly regretted it. He was still staring ahead, eyes locked on the road but now he was smiling. It was the smile of someone who knew something you didn't, the coyness of someone about to trick you. She felt the danger but didn't want to acknowledge it. If she didn't panic then maybe it wasn't real.

'Rude,' he said glancing over at her. 'I get real rude when I drink'

She nodded, once again feeling the urge to swallow but unable to get her throat closed. It pulsed in pain when she tried to force it.

'Hey listen' she was fidgeting with her own nails now, digging into the cuticle and trying to pry a piece loose 'I left some other friends back there that I should probably get back to and - '

'Thought you wanted me to take you someplace where you could get a ride' he grinned, putting emphasis on the last word and drawing it out. He turned his head to look at her, his eyes moving up and down her body and then snapping forward again. He was shifting his weight in his seat. The movement caught her off guard and she forgot not to panic.

'I do, I did, but I just remembered - '

Something blurry caught her attention in her periphery and she turned her head to see what it was. Behind his fist, his face had hardened, and she wondered what was happening right before searing light exploded across her vision. It blanked to white and then fizzed into darkness. Lilly swooned and let herself fall.

XxXxXx

Mac let the girl slump awkwardly to the floor of the cab, watching as she went down face first onto the floor mat. He lit another cigarette and blew the smoke out sideways, staring down at her every now and then to see if she was really out.

He wasn't worried. It would be days before someone reported her missing, if she even had anyone to miss her at all that is. Mac didn't think that fat fuck she had been with would be contacting any authorities over her disappearance. If it came to that so be it, one more runaway missing in the vastness of the northern part of the state. He didn't spare anytime on the thought of anyone having noticed him with her either; all the people at the gas station had been looking at her when he'd driven by. No, he figured this was just another one of those train riding kids, the kind it would be easy to dismiss as simply being somewhere else if anyone even thought to look for her. He'd find her cellphone next time he stopped to pee and toss it away. Her pack he would keep to hold over her, though he doubted there was anything of value in it. He loved this time of year, when transients came in droves looking for work. It was so easy to make one of them disappear.

He drove for hours, stopping once to pee down near an abandoned gas station and watching her the entire time in case she suddenly came too . He found her cellphone and a pretty impressive sized knife in the front pocket of her pack. The phone he smashed with his heel, not needing it, but the knife, complete with its own sheath, he slid onto his belt before he secured it again around his waist.

By the time he pulled onto his property it was edging towards dark and he was feeling the fatigue of the drive. It was boring and sitting still for that long always irritated him. Besides, he had something new and exciting to play with when he got home, and that had made the journey seem longer. The girl had stayed where she was for the entire drive. He had no choice but to wonder if he'd hit her too hard. The thought didn't disturb him for too long though, and after gathering her limp body up in his arms he carried her into the house.

The first thing he did was bring her down to the basement and drop her on the bed. Her body bounced and rolled away from him but other than that she was motionless. He didn't bother tying her up. If she woke up in the time it took for him to get a beer then so be it; he was pretty sure he could overpower her again. He hardy even tasted the first bottle. He just drank it because it was cold and he needed something to occupy his hands while he leaned against the wall of the room, watching the rise and fall of her chest.

She was pretty. He had been lucky this time, not having to settle for someone who wasn't his type just because they were easy to separate from the herd. He wanted to keep her for a while and he hoped that he could. The last one had been so annoying that he'd gotten rid of her after a few days, not needing the hassle of feeding her if all she did was irritate him. He'd hardly even fucked that one now that he was thinking about it. She had such a goddamn mouth, it was always open and expelling noise - like a baby you didn't want to pay attention to because all it did was scream at you.

He shook the memory of her from his head. He couldn't even remember her name, or if he'd ever bothered to learn it. Instead he focused on the girl in front of him. She had blonde dreadlocks and a couple piercings. He could see a couple of tattoos on her that he didn't bother looking closer at. After all, he had all the time in the world to explore her. The hair he didn't care for though, and he knew he was going to end up cutting it off. He thought about doing it now, so that when she woke up it would be as a different person, but he resisted so that he could use it as punishment against her later when she pissed him off. He knew that she would eventually, probably within the first hour of her regaining consciousness. They all did, especially at first.

There had only been one that had lasted longer than a week, a shy girl who said she was from the Midwest. He had let her live for a while, thinking maybe he could keep her, but he had gotten bored of her and the way she never challenged him. He needed something in between, someone brave enough to fight back when his temper made him itchy but submissive to cower beneath just his glare when he wanted things quiet.

He opened the other beer he'd brought with him and fit the empty into his back pocket. He needed to go unload everything from the truck and check on the plants before full dark, but for now he just wanted to watch the girl. He was wondering what her name was and if he'd like it enough to let her keep it. This was his favorite part and he wanted to savor it, so he indulged himself in a few more moments with her. She was brand new and full of potential in the here and now, and even though he was excited to see how she would react to him when she woke up, he knew this was the best it was ever going to get. This was the blank page at a writers fingertips, a limitless place that only existed at the very beginning.

Sighing before draining the last of his beer, Mac put the bottle into his other back pocket and slowly walked up to the bed to look down at her. Her temple was bruising, and she was definitely going to have a black eye where he'd hit her. He looked absentmindedly at the fist that had done it, it hadn't even hurt when he'd punched her, or maybe he just didn't register those slight kinds of pain anymore. He used the bandana from his back pocket to tie around her eyes, then crouched and fished around under his bed until he found the length of rope he kept down there. After coiling it around her wrists and securing them to the headboard, he yanked on it twice to make sure it was secure. Satisified that it would hold her, he exited the way he entered, shutting the lights off on his way out and leaving her in darkness.

 **yay? Nay? Worth continuing?**


	2. Chapter 2

When i woke up it was dark. I tried to move but discovered i was once again tied down. This time, when i jerked my wrists, there wasn't enough adrenaline running through me to disguise the pain it caused, and I gasped when i reopened the scabs forming there, feeling the warm blood begin to bead and drip from my wrists.

Shuddering, i licked my lips and tried to remember what had happened. I wished i could press my hands against my thudding head when the memory finally came back, but there was nothing i could do for any relief. I saw Travis standing soaked in mysterious liquid, me in the passenger seat of the strangers car without my knife, a blurred fist and a tilting world.

I sighed, hating myself for acting so foolish. I had been in rough situations before but never like this, never tied to someone's bed with a blindfold on, not unless we'd been fucking. Even though my whole body ached i could tell he hadn't raped me, my insides didn't hurt, it was just my limbs and upper body. I couldn't remember injuring myself but then again i couldn't remember arriving here either, so there must have been something else that happened.

I bent my legs up, surprised when they weren't tied to anything, and thought about my next move. I could call out again and maybe he would give me more water, but the thought of being close to his massive size again made me hesitate. In the end though, there wasn't any other option. I wasn't going to be able to free myself like this, but maybe if i could find out what this guy wanted i could survive this still.

Gathering what little spit i had, i tested my voice.

"Hello?"

Silence rebounded back to me but i waited for any indication of movement before i tried again. After a few minutes of yelling all i had to show for it was a dry mouth and a rising panic so i quit, resolving to wait until i heard something. In the meantime i tried to remember song lyrics in my head, anything to keep from going crazy.

It was impossible to tell how much time had gone by when i finally heard the sound of a nearby engine and the crunch of gravel, but it had felt like hours. I needed to pee and i was hungry and thirsty, so i couldn't stop myself from calling out as soon as i heard a door opening above me.

"Help!" I cried out, my wrists jostling painfully in their fiber shackles "please!"

Part of me knew it was him, that there wasn't any kind of rescue on the way, but my brain still flooded with oxytocin at the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. Being alone and unable to see was not only frustrating but terrifying, and the thought of being near another human again made me feel safer somehow.

"Well, well, well" the mans voice, deep and full of amusement, said after the door opened and the foot steps got closer. "Look who's awake"

"Water" i rasped. "I need - "

"Whud i say 'bout those demands girl"

I flinched and whipped my head to the side, waiting for the hit but it didn't come. Instead, i heard him breathing through his nose and cracking all his fingers.

"Try again" he said softly, his voice suddenly like silk.

Realizing he was giving me the chance to correct myself, i slowly turned my head back towards him.

"Can i please have some water?"

"I dunno, can you?"

I felt like a kid in grade school asking permission to use the bathroom. My first reaction was to get angry, to act indignant and tell this guy to fuck off. The pressure on my bladder and the desert in my mouth humbled me though, and i resolved to play ball with him if it meant i could meet my basic human needs.

"May i ?" I tried again. "May i please have some water?"

"Hmm," he mused. "What's in it fer me?"

I started to cry weakly, surprising myself that there was moisture left in my body.

"Please"

"Jus' this once," he grumbled. "Ya want anythin from me in the future yer guna hafta earn it, understand?"

I nodded, not even hearing his words over the sound of the seal being broken on a bottle of water. All i knew was he was about to give me what i needed, i could care less what i had agreed to in my haste. He lifted my head slightly as he held the bottle to my lips, telling me to drink it slow and making a 'tsk' noise with his mouth when i ignored him. The bottle and its delicious contents drew away and i groaned in frustration. I opened my mouth to beg for more but he shoved something into it, something tangy that i didn't want anywhere near my tongue.

I tried to spit it out but he covered it with his hand, pressing my head black down to the mattress and leaning over me. I could feel the heat coming off his body, the fabric of his shirt brushing against my skin. The sweaty rag in my mouth made me choke at the taste of it and i heard the sound of him chuckling lowly.

"Imma take up upstairs and clean you up," he practically whispered. "An if yer a good girl and leave that in yer mouth 'till i say so then ill let you have more water"

I moaned from behind the gag, trying to speak and he shushed me.

"Jus' nod yer head"

He weakened the pressure of his hand on my mouth so that i could move my head up and down, and once he was satisfied that i understood, he moved to untie the rope from the headboard. My hands he left tied together though, making it awkward to get my balance.

"Be easy," he coaxed as he pulled me into a sitting position, talking gently but firmly like you would to an unknown animal. "You haven't used yer legs in a few days"

' _A few days?'_ My mind reeled. ' _how long have i been here? Where the fuck am i?'_

He kept a firm grip on my forearm after i had stood, sparing me the pain in my wrist but making it difficult to steady myself. Finally, i resorted to just leaning my weight into him the way he wanted me to, and we began the slow journey upstairs. It was awkward to walk without the use of my eyes and hard to relax my body enough to trust him to lead me. Every step was hesitant, as if he were walking me to the edge of something he intended to throw me over.

My legs were weak and my knees kept buckling, and when we stopped in front of the stairs, the man let me rest for a moment before attempting them. It was painful to climb them, the effort burning in my thigh and calves. I needed to stretch and reclaim my body, but I doubted this guy was going to let me do very much without him.

Finally, the discomfort made me stop, and i sobbed from behind the gag.

"Jesus," he muttered under his breath, his fingers invading my mouth and yanking the gag out. "What is it"

"I can't" i sobbed, my legs killing me and the pressure of my bladder making it impossible to continue. "I have to pee so bad and i -"

"Stop" he grit out, his fingers tightening on my arm. "Ill carry ya this time, but if ya piss on me yer dead ya got that?"

I nodded, reaching up to wipe the tears of my cheek only to have him yank my hand back down. When he lifted me, bridal style, with one arm wrapped around my shoulders and the other in the crook of my knee, it surprised me and i tried to cling to his neck out of reflex. His muscles there were rock solid like the rest of him, and i could feel them moving like shifting slabs of concrete while he adjusted me in his arms.

He carried me the rest of the way up. We'd almost been at the top and i felt ashamed for having giving up and begged the way i had. I needed to get my head straight, to figure out a way to keep myself intact. When we reached the landing I expected him to set me down and i tried to shift my weight towards the floor. He surprised me though, clutching me tighter to him and walking forward, eventually turning sideways to fit us through another door frame.

My feet hit cold tile and i shivered, finding my footing and standing with my shoulders bent forward. It was slightly warmer upstairs but i was still freezing. I thought it was odd, seeing as i still had all my clothes on, but then quickly realized i had no idea where i was. My heart fell backwards through my lungs and into the very pit of my stomach. And then, when i thought I couldn't feel any worse, i heard the sound of a pocket knife flicking open.

He grabbed my bound hands and i started to cry when he tugged them towards him, earning me another hard slap before i felt him sawing through the abrasive fiber around my wrists. When my hands were free he shoved me away from him and the back of my knees hit something cold. I stumbled and couldn't steady myself, my arms flailing blindly as i fell. I squeaked when i hit the ground a lot sooner than i anticipated, and i realized i had fallen on the toilet.

"You got five minutes and then I'm coming in to shower with you"

My hand went automatically to the blindfold.

"Last time i checked you didn't need yer eyes ta piss" he growled at me. "If you take that off imma punish you"

The hand at my temple became a stone, sinking slowly back into my lap. I heard him smirking, the way his breathing changed when he was amused. The loss of my sight had my other senses perking up, and i felt like I could hear and smell better than usual. The hearing aspect i was thankful for, but the heightened sense of smell i could do without.

I heard the click of the door but i still waited a moment to sense the energy in the room. When I couldn't feel him watching me, i finally stood and undid the button on my jeans, sinking back down in relief and finally emptying my bladder. After i had peed I cautiously reached around to the back of my head, expecting to hear his voice shouting at me at any second to stop. When everything remained quiet, i gently felt the knot that he had tied. It was tight. Not only was i not sure if i could even get it loose, but i was scared of what he'd do if he caught me with it off. It was tempting to just take it off for a moment, to see anything besides darkness, even if it was just a bathroom wall, but i was nervous that the knot was unique and he would be able to tell i had undone it. I didn't know what he meant by 'punish' but i didn't want to find out.

He didn't knock when he came back in.

"Take yer clothes off"

I had moved to sit on the edge of the tub, my fingers clamped onto the lip of it, totally frozen. I had heard him but i still couldn't make my body react and i fully expected him to hit me when he came closer. It was difficult not to scream when i sensed him crouching down in front of me, harder still not to jerk away when i felt his hot breath on my cheek.

"Yer makin' me mad sweetheart"

Somehow, the unexpected whisper was worse than the violence and the yelling. I dissolved, my shoulders quaking and my chest heaving as i started to cry. The panic was made worse by the deep sigh that emanated from the man in front of me, and i tried to get to my feet so i could move past him purely out of reflex. Suddenly though, i was being shoved backwards, and my back collided painfully with the ceramic behind me. In the time it took for me to get my hands underneath me to try and push myself up he had turned the water on, and the cold drops felt like ice pellets as they rained down on me. I screamed, doubling my efforts and reaching blindly for the other side of the tub so i could pull myself free.

Something connected with my shoulder and knocked me back, either his foot or his fist, something solid that couldn't be argued with.

"I said take 'em off!" He roared at me. "you won' like it if i hafta do it for ya"

Shaking in the cold, i went about stripping the wet, clinging material off of my body. The water warmed as i lost each article, and by the time i was naked the water was actually edging on too hot. I reached up to strip the soaking wet blindfold off, thinking i could get away with it, but he slapped my hand away when i scrambled for the knot.

"That stays on"

"But why?" I asked, incredulous. "I - "

It happened so fast it was difficult to tell in what order it occurred, but suddenly i was flat against the tiled wall of the shower, my head aching from the contact and my mouth covered by his large hand.

"Cause i fuckin' said so ya little brat" he hissed at me, drawing me forward and slamming me backward again. "Ya wan me ta take that blindfold off yer guna hafta earn it"

I couldn't focus with the way he kept bashing my head into the wall. I brought my hands up to his forearms and held on. They were hot and wet, slippery beneath my desperate grasp but firm with the hardness of his muscles there. His hands were at my bicep and mouth, bracing his weight into me as he held me.

"Ask me again an ill make ya wish ya hadn't, am i clear?"

Muffling my comprehension, i weakly nodded my head as much as his grip would allow.

"Good"

I felt him kiss my forehead and exhale through his nose as he slowly relaxed his hold on me.

"I wanna be nice to you" he whispered softly to me, his voice tiny as if he were suddenly self-conscious. "I wanna make you feel good"

The water kept me from shivering and i was grateful. I didn't know for sure but i had a feeling the man didn't take rejection well, and i didn't want to give him any more excuses to lose his temper. He fit his knee between my leg, forcing them open so that i was straddling his thighs.

"Put yer hands on my chest"

Cautiously, i let go of his arms and reached my palms up. When they connected with him i flinched but didn't take my hands away. It was so disarming to feel his strength, and i had never felt more vulnerable than i did in that moment, naked and terrified in front of a man who wouldn't let me see him.

"Yer mine now girl"

i tried to drop my hands but he caught one and put it back over his heart, pressing it there so i could feel how rapidly it was beating.

"I aint guna let ya go," he spoke louder, trying to be heard over the sound of my dismay. "So the best ya can hope for is ta do what i say the first time an save yerself the trouble of pissin' me off"

I tried to worm away but he scooped me up into him, smoothing one hand up my back to hold the nape of my neck while the other wrapped around my lower back. He held me while i struggled and sobbed, his grip tightening and his breath like a bull's beside my ear. When i started screaming he lost his patience, spinning us both and throwing me from the shower towards the door.

I slid across the floor from the force of it, the shower curtain trapped beneath me and head connecting with the wood of the far wall. The water turned off. Still crying, i tried to get my hands beneath my so that i could push myself up but his hand found the roots of my hair and yanked me up to my feet.

"Since you don' wanna play nice" he grunted, dragging me backwards to open the door and then forcing me forwards again to go through it. "You kin jus' go back downstairs"

I was still screaming, holding onto his hands to try and pry them off as he hauled me back down the hall. He stopped and i heard another door in front of us opening.

"I wanted ta let ya take a shower an give ya sumthin' ta eat" he spat at me, his voice angry and cutting, all teeth and malice. "But you wouldn't behave"

Frantic now, realizing he meant to throw me forward and down the stairs, i kept pulling at his fingers, trying to untangle them.

"Remember that when you wake up"

And then i was flying, the ground vanishing beneath my feet and instead finding the ridge of my eyebrow with a painful corner. I hit a few more things on my way down before i mercifully lost consciousness. My last thought was praying that this time I wouldn't regain it.

XxXxX

Mac watched the girl tumble away from him down the stairs, her head colliding first with a step, then the wall, then with a few more steps on the way down. When she crumpled to the bottom she stayed still, and he lumbered heavily down the steps after her to check if she was still breathing. Her leg looked weird, but Mac supposed she had survived the fall. Sighing, he crouched down and undid the blindfold, knowing she would just take it off as soon as she woke up. He intended to leave her right where she was, and he intended to leave her that way for as long as it took. He nudged her with his foot, testing to see if she was really out, and then trudged back up the stairs.

He killed the lights and threw the lock, clearing his throat and heading back towards the bathroom. He was still naked and he wanted to get back into the shower. His buyer was expecting to meet him in a few hours and even though he had wanted to feed the girl before he left, he couldn't abide by that fucking screaming. Scratching at the stubble along his chin, he turned the water back on full heat, letting it scorch him when he stepped to stand beneath it.

XxXxXxX

Lilly woke up slow, her body aching and shivering in the damp cold of the basement. She let the memory of what had transpired earlier come back to her, then instinctually reached for the blindfold to yank it off when she realized he had left her on the floor and she wasn't tied up. Surprised when she didn't feel it wrapped around her temple, she tried to blink away the darkness. When she still couldn't see, she figured the lights were off and she set about getting to her feet to try and find the switch if she could.

Hollering as soon as she put weight on her left ankle, Lilly collapsed back to the floor. She panted through her teeth and tried to gently touch her swollen foot, gasping when even the lightest touch sent daggers through her bones there.

"Fuck" she whispered out loud, tears beading at her eyes and panic edging towards the back of her throat, ready to erupt in a scream.

Biting her lip to muffle the pathetic noises bubbling out of her, Lilly began to drag herself forward.

XxXxXxXxXx

Mac was only gone from the house for a day but he stayed away from the basement for three. It wasn't that he was still mad, he had spent his anger on a couple of other women down in the city, he just wanted to condition her. He could hear her yelling up at him, her pleas getting more and more desperate as time went on, but besides making plenty of noise so that she would know he was home, he didn't go to her.

The girl was hollering about her ankle, screaming please and telling him she would do whatever he wanted, that she'd be good. Mac scoffed, knowing she didn't mean it, not yet anyway, but took a small amount of pity on her when he realized she hadn't been able to climb the stairs to bang on the door or turn the lights on.

There was an unfinished bathroom down there that she could get water from if she found it, but other than that it was just the bed and the darkness. He had removed all the lightbulbs except for the one he could control at the top of the stairs, and he had patched all the windows over a long time ago to make sure no other light got in.

When he didn't hear her on the fourth day he decided to check on her, unlocking the basement door and swinging it open slowly. He could have fixed the loud 'creak' it produced a long time ago but he liked thinking about what the noise did to his prisoners. At first he knew it scared them, signaling the return of their tormentor, but he also knew that eventually it would inspire relief in them, that their master was coming to feed or play with them. Mac smiled at the thought of making her call him 'master'. He wondered if he could beat his previous record of getting her to say it. He knew that he could probably get her to mumble it, say it quick as if she could just get it over with, but he wanted to hear a little conviction in her voice. He wanted to hear her say it like she really meant it.

He flicked the light on and stomped down the stairs, pausing every now and then to listen for her. When he reached the bottom and he still didn't hear her, he wondered if he had left her for too long. Then he remembered it hadn't been near long enough for her to starve to death, and he calmed back down.

"Girl?"

A moan came from the direction of the bedroom and Mac followed it. He found her beneath the thin blanket he'd left on the mattress, shivering and making noises with her eyes closed. He rolled his own, annoyed that she was sick, and pulled back the worn quilt that covered her.

Her body was covered with bruises, but none as magnificent as the one that resembled a nebula around her ankle. It was a mottled purple and blue, yellowing around the edges and appearing almost green in the dim light. He sighed, figuring she had probably tried to put weight on it. Idiot. Twisting his lips up as he thought and still holding the blanket aloft so he could scrutinize her, he wondered if he should drive his knee down on it to fully shatter it or just leave it as it was.

The girl shivered and tucked into herself tighter, her naked body textured by goosebumps and the ripple of her skin trying to warm itself. He bent, shoving his hands beneath her, and rolled her towards his chest so he could lift her. She didn't open her eyes, just pressed herself against him, one tiny hand clutching the fabric of his shirt in a tight fist. Something in his chest shifted. He liked the way her hand felt bunching up his shirt, liked the way she clung to him like he was some kind of savior. Smirking, he turned and carried her out of the room, climbing the stairs easily and kicking the door shut behind him.

XxXxXxXxXxX

In the end, and because he kinda wanted to feel her bones breaking beneath his hand, he injected her with a small dose of heroin so he could truly fracture her ankle without having to deal with her screaming. At first he was going to wrap it but then he decided the healing process would be longer if he made damn sure it was broken, and the way she had clung to him when he carried her had made up his mind for him. He wanted her helpless, and he knew the best way to do that was to make sure she that she needed him. As an added bonus he could be confident in her inability to get away from him for a little while, something he was surprised he hadn't thought of earlier.

The 'snap' of her bones separating when he took a hammer to it sent a jolt of electricity to his dick, and he kinda wished she was coherent enough to express how it felt. The ripple of pleasure that went through him when her face screwed up in discomfort made him pant. He knew somewhere, underneath the haze, she could feel it.

After he had bound it tight so that she couldn't fuck it up, he brought her back down the basement. He could have just tied her to his bed, but he didn't want to give her any special treatment just because she had made him mad enough to throw her down the stairs. In his mind it was her fault, and she wasn't going to get rewarded for it just because she happened to get herself injured. He left the blindfold off though, figuring it would be better if she could see he had done something to help her. He knew it would cause a conflict in her, and the confusion was what he wanted.

The blanket was soaked through with her sweat so he got her a new one, covering her with it and watching her curl into herself beneath its warmth. He smiled, deciding not to tie her up again since she was immobilized, and left.

XxXxXxXxX

Lilly could feel the dirty bliss running through her blood stream, keeping her under a weird, warm current. She felt pressure on her ankle, followed by a disgusting sounding snap and an awful groan of pleasure. Her stomach twisted and her face contorted. The texture of his hands on her skin was abrasive but he was so warm and solid feeling, she couldn't resist leaning into him when he lifted her.

Judging by the way it felt to carried on the stairs, she guessed he was bringing her back down to the basement. When he set her down she felt the cold immediately return, and she grimaced but couldn't get her eyes open. She felt detached, like she was swimming through different scenes and trying to explain something to someone. Reality was too distant to reach, instead it was if she were mumbling with a mouth full of marbles, trying to speak it unable to. A layer of warmth suddenly spread over her, and she snuggled down towards her heartbeat, letting whatever she was partially submerged in cover her completely.

When she woke up she fought the clawing, gnawing urge to keep sleeping and pushed the blanket away. It was like kicking and punching to be free, struggling towards the surface of a viscous filed pool. She looked down at her leg, realizing he had wrapped it and wondering why he had. She felt gross, hot and sluggish, with an itch embedded deep into her skin. Looking at her elbow she realized why, and she pressed and massaged at the bruised area where he had injected her.

Then, suddenly, she realized she could see and wasn't restrained so she bolted upright in the bed, rewarded only with a fresh pang of pain coming from her injury. Gritting her teeth, she used both hands to swing the mended leg over the edge of the bed, sitting on the very edge and psyching herself up.

"I wouldn't"

His voice was the noise someone made when they were clearing their throat; a bark or a cough, something abrupt but perfect at getting your attention. Her head shot up, seeing him coming towards her, and she froze. He stopped where he was, letting her take in the sight of him, and then watched the reactions play over her face. He knew some part of her was attracted to him but there was also apprehension. She was curious but she was also scared and she didn't want him to come any closer. She was perfect.

While he stood there, smirking at her but making no other moves, she realized she was naked. She made a weird chirping sound and tried to cover herself with the blanket, but he only scoffed and rolled his eyes, taking the final steps needed to close the distance between them and catching her wrist to stop her.

"S'little late for that don'tcha think?"

She recoiled away from his hissing voice, fresh tears springing to her eyes. He told her to quit it and was surprised when she managed to choke it all back, stifling the sobs and stilling her shoulders. He let her go, taking one step back and crossing his arms over his chest, watching as she hung her head and got herself together.

"You wan' it ta heal ya need ta stay off it and eat sumthin"

Her head shot up at mention of food, her eyes clear and focused, and he crouched down so that he was eye level with her. She flinched when he tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, and she made a noise like she was suppressing a gag when he pet her cheek with his finger, but he didn't care. There was something about this one, something different that was putting him at ease and making him feel like he had all the time in the world. He had a feeling that instead of breaking this girl was more likely to crumble completely, and he was excited to see how it would all unfold.

"Can i -" she paused, correcting herself. "May i, may i please have something to eat"

He exhaled through his nose and she shut her eyes, visibly shaking in front of him. He knew she was cold but he could also smell the fear coming off of her, and it was intoxicating. It had been intermingled with the smell of sex for so long that to him there really wasn't any difference, and he felt himself start to get excited. He leaned into her, breathing the smell of it in, and her entire body began to quake. Even though he fully intended on feeding her, he was having too much fun terrorizing her with just his presence at the moment to care. It wasn't until he heard her whimper 'please' that he was able draw away from her and refocus himself.

"C'mon," he grunted, hauling her up to her one good foot and wrapping an arm around her waist to steady her. He had thought about getting her a single crutch but then decided he didn't want her to have anything that could be wielded as a weapon. Until she could put weight on it she was going to have to rely on him to get anywhere unless she wanted to crawl, and he smiled at the thought of either option while he slung her arm over her shoulder. He knew it would be easier to carry her but he wanted to watch her struggle up the stairs until she had to surrender her pride and ask for his help. It didn't take long. By the time they were less than halfway there she gave up, admitting defeat and averting her eyes when he laughed at her.

"What's in it fer me?" He snapped at her when she quietly asked for help, not really mad but unable to resist torturing her. "Think i like lugging yer ass up an down these stairs?"

"My ankle, i can't - "

"My ankle" he mocked her, making his voice higher as though he were trying to imitate an annoying girl. "You sound like a little bitch"

He shouted the last part at her and she flinched away from him, his voice painful in her ear. Then she got mad, just like he'd anticipated, trying to shake him off and wavering unsteadily on her feet.

"Oh, what?" He teased her. "That hurt yer feelings sweetheart?"

"Let go of me!" She yelled, twisting her body and throwing her weight forward. "Don't fucking touch me!"

"Fine!" He spat back, releasing her and shoving her towards the railing. "Do it yerself"

He took the rest of the steps by twos, stopping once he was at the top to look back down at her. She was clinging to the railing with both hands, hopping on her one good foot and trying to find her balance without having to set the injured one down. Her face showed her panic as she looked first up at him, then behind her, then back up a him.

"Thas twice now that you've been ungrateful ta me when im only trying ta feed ya" he told her as she struggled to pull herself forward. "Lemme know when ya figure out how ta act"

 **So ive decided to write both stories at the same time. This way, i can work on Mac and Calli's complicated what-have-you and still have regular Mac to hang out with. I promise, PROMISE, that this story is going to get smutty. I'm really into the slow burn though, and some of my favorite feels come from Mac just being aggressive with his words/body language/inner demented thoughts. Also, as im writing it, i feel like he doesn't want to rush it either. That being said, these two are definitely going to fuck at some point, i just want all that delicious build up before hand.**

 **Big, big thank yous to alyisdead and Krissy for reviewing this story and helping me out! It means a lot to me :) thanks gals**


	3. Chapter 3

Mac went to the kitchen, irritated in his chest with the girl and unable to calm down. She was like a fussy child, whining and complaining in his ear incessantly. The urge to grab the closest thing to him and smash it against the ground was overwhelming, and he wondered for a moment if she was worth the headache. Then he remembered how she'd acted in the parking lot. She'd been submissive to that guy, letting him speak to her that way in public and hardly defending herself. Not only that, but she had also done exactly what he himself had told her to, hopping into his truck without a second of hesitation.

He liked that.

There was a voice in his head trying to convince him to be patient. The girl was terrified and in pain, cowering too quick beneath his hand because she didn't know what the stakes were and lacked the brain power to think clearly. Mac recognized the symptoms well. It was the same result he got when he withheld food from his captives, when he wanted them confused and easy to scare. Lack of protein made people more susceptible to suggestion and intimidation; it what was they did in cults to keep people pliable and easy to control.

Part of him thought she might be one of the rare ones, someone who could be cajoled into total submission just with the careful tactics of positive and negative reinforcement. The majority of the girls he kidnapped couldn't really give into him, thats why they all ended up dead. They were too attached to their ego, too firmly rooted in the notion of themselves as an individual in control of their future. He thought he saw something different in this one though, some kind of precipice that she was already standing right in front of. All he had to do was be the one to push her over and he could be the one who got to keep her. She had initially, before he had scared the piss out of her, reacted to his voice the way a well trained dog follows its masters command; immediately and without question. The best part about it was that it had just happened naturally, as if he could somehow speak directly to her body instead of the voice she assigned herself inside her head.

Considering what was at stake, he tried to count to ten to slow his rapid breathing and relax. He focused on his shoulders first, picturing the muscles melting and running hot down his arms. The imagined heat relaxed his fingers enough to fall out of their fist formation, and then he pictured the anger draining out of him in droplets, red hot emotion dripping and sizzling onto the ground like acid.

It worked. When he opened his eyes again he felt more composed. Pissed, but no longer lethal. Sighing, he filled a glass of water from the sputtering tap, walking slowing back to the door so that she would have plenty of time to prepare herself once she heard him coming. She hadn't made any progress. She was still clutching to the railing for dear life, and she shrunk back when his wide shoulders moved to fill the doorway.

He raised the glass to show her and then set it at his feet, stepping back and walking away without saying anything. There was no way she was beating him in a race to the door even if she was closer. She wasn't going anywhere on that foot for a while, and if he didn't get her the proper equipment to let it heal right, she would walk with a limp for the rest of her life. He smiled as he opened the fridge and searched through it for food. The thought of her hobbling, unable to escape him no matter what the circumstances, appealed to him the more he thought about it. He could always offer to fix it for her in exchange for things he wanted too, he could do a lot of things.

When he began to hear her huffing and puffing towards the water she wanted, he felt his temper ease off even further. As long as she hadn't given up, there was still potential in her. He could tell she had reached the top from the noise her palms made slapping against the floor when she fell towards the glass. Next came the sound of her greedily drinking it, and the ragged breaths she drew after.

Once he heard her set the glass back down, he stepped into the hallway. When he took in the sight of her leaning against the wall, her head turned towards the front door, he somehow managed to keep from charging towards her.

"3 strikes sweetheart" he said, staying where he was but keeping his body poised to pounce at any moment. "last chance"

She turned to face him then. Even though her eyes were wide with fear, he could see that she was hopeful too. He knew what she was thinking, what she was praying for. She wanted him to be nice to her. That, or she at least didn't want to provoke his wrath if she could avoid it. The girl was calculating in her head what the chances were that he'd be gentle if she did what he said, if she obeyed his orders.

He nodded at her, beckoning her closer with his hand but not saying anything, watching as she struggled to get to her feet. She braced her back against the wall to do it, hopping slightly to get her knees beneath her hips. While she found her balance on one leg he took a step back, moving out of the way of the doorframe and making space for her.

The realization that he wasn't going to help her slowly crept over her face. She bit her lip and looked around, wondering what she could use but finding nothing within arms reach. Finally, after hanging her head and shaking it slightly, she rocked herself forward and jumped. She yelped when she landed awkwardly and she tried to grip the flat wall for balance, bending her elbow and leaning her forearm on it to try and steady herself.

"Enough" he said, going towards her. She was only going to hurt herself more if he insisted she keep going. He had made his point.

Lilly didn't hesitate when the man took her arm and hooked it behind his neck. He grabbed her waist and pulled her tight to his side, guiding her forward slowly and accepting almost all of her weight. Her ankle was throbbing, even with the numbing effects of the leftover heroin in her system, and she wondered how badly she had injured it in the fall. It took a full moment for her to grasp in her mind that she hadn't fallen, that she had been pushed, but the piss and vinegar in her blood had been diluted by the pain and drugs. She wasn't focused on the fact that he had done this to her, that she shouldn't be accepting his help or letting him touch her, she was just glad she wasn't experiencing the lightning pain of her injury.

After depositing her in a chair, Mac went to the fridge and pulled out two beers. He held them up so she could see, and then offered one to her. At first she shook her head, but when Mac raised his eyebrows and tilted his head a little, she dropped the act and slowly nodded. It took a moment for him to realize she wasn't going to reach for it. She just sat there with her shoulders hunched, palms tightly gripped around the seat she was in.

He set it down in front of her and she jolted in her chair at the sound, causing her ankle to bump against the floor and making her hiss in pain. He wanted to comment on how jumpy she was but he figured the less he said to her right now the better. If she said something stupid back he was likely to lose his temper again, and he knew he had to stop pushing for a moment to let her recoup a little. He needed to feed her first, give her something to power her brain enough to focus on what he was explaining. It was useless to keep yelling at her when she didn't have the mental strength to understand, like screaming at someone in another language and gesturing wildly with your hands, giving no indication of what you want.

Mac wasn't patient. He knew he had a bad temper that wasn't difficult to trigger, and he was glad when the girl didn't hesitate to eat what he set in front of her. Instead, she devoted her full attention to the plate, eating with her hands and avoiding eye contact with him. He watched her, fascinated with her sudden transformation. She was like an animal, all wilderness and survival.

"When's the las' time that guy fed ya?"

She scoffed and just kept eating, causing the energy in him to build. He was curious about her but he was still who he was; he couldn't handle it when people didn't listen to him.

"Answer me" his voice was a warning.

That got her attention quick, and she brought her eyes up immediately to his, remembering where she was. Good.

"I uh, i don't know how long I've been here," she admitted, clearly terrified that her answer wouldn't satisfy him. "But before i met you it had been a day and half"

"Why?"

She shrunk further into herself, all the easy body language she displayed moments ago while eating had vanished. He could read easily that she was afraid he would take the food away from her if she answered him wrong.

"We had been on a train, and then we rushed to catch a ride to the store you found me out"

"You don' carry food on ya when ya ride?"

Her face changed again, and Mac realized she was getting offended, that she about to defend herself. She opened her mouth, her brow set in a purposeful furrow, but abruptly shut it when she locked eyes with him again.

"Go on" he encouraged her, suddenly interested.

"I didn't have any money, that guy drank almost everything i could spange"

"Spange?"

"Beg for"

"Well its a good thing yer good at that" he replied matter of factly. "Hurry up an finish, i got shit ta do"

XxXxXxXxXxX

I hardly even tasted the food the man had given me, not caring that that it was an unidentifiable pile of brownish matter. All i saw was calories, and i set about eating it as fast as i could in case he decided to take it away from me. He let me finish it, but he didn't take his eyes off me the entire time and his concentration was distracting. It felt as if he were about to seize me at any moment, and the skin everyplace he had gripped me already began to get hot in anticipation. I wondered if this was what it felt like to be hunted.

"Imma give you 'nother shot. Don' argue with me neither, yer guna wan' it"

I took his advice and stayed quiet, finishing the beer he had given me and watching him get the gear together. I was familiar with the process. The guy i had been traveling with before Travis had been a frequent user. I had left him after he had stolen from me, leaving him nodding by the hop out and embarking on my own.

The man disappeared for a moment and i quickly looked around, wondering how i could escape. My ankle was shot at the moment but maybe if i could learn the layout of the house it would serve me well in the future. He returned all too quick though, and this time he had my backpack with him. Instinctively i reached for it, only to have him yank it back. Instead i had to watch him dig through it, suddenly feeling violated even though i had been naked in front of him this entire time. He pulled out one of my shirts and threw it at me, searching until he found a pair of flannel pajama pants and then tossing the bag to the floor behind him. Once i had carefully dressed i felt better, more in control and better able to handle what was happening.

"Thank you" i told him, grateful for the small act of kindness.

He smirked and sat at the table with me, laying the spoon, needle and pouches in front of him. The lighter he produced from his pocket, and the puff of cotton he pulled from a cigarette. He concentrated while he cooked it, taking care not to spill or fumble the concoction in his massive, clumsy looking hands. After he had drawn the liquid in and held the needle to the light to flick the air bubbles free, he stood and began to undo his belt. At first i flinched, trying to scoot my chair away from him, but he only laughed, his face almost handsome with the way his smile split the skin up by his eyes. He whipped the leather free from the loops of his carhartts and quickly caught my arm in it, tightening it swiftly around my bicep and smacking the tender flesh of my elbow.

"Say please" he demanded.

I watched him dig into a vein with the very tip of the needle. My blood tainted the chamber and unfurled in long tendrils, reaching out and fading.

"Please" I whispered.

He made a noise in his throat as he pushed the plunger down, some kind of satisfied growl, and then kissed me hard. I melted into him. The warmth he had injected into me raced up shoulders and spread out through my neck, making my head hang forward and my eyes droop shut. I heard him chuckle, felt him touch my face. I mumbled something, trying to be heard in my dream like state, but he didn't answer me. Instead i felt his strong arms gather me up, lifting me as though i were a rag doll, and i let the narcotic pull me under.

XxXxXxX

Lilly could feel the tide of unconsciousness pulling away from her, drawing back on itself and beginning to uncover her body. It was like water pulling gently at her skin as it receded, but it left her feeling exposed and soon the pain was back, flaring hot as if a sun was suddenly burning down from above.

She would wake up sweating, her lips already drawn tight in misery. Sometimes he would hear her moaning but other times she would have to call out to him. On the worst days it took him hours to come to her, and she would have to lie drenched in her own foul smelling filth until he came down to untie her.

Her wrists were raw from being restrained and he had taken to chaining her around her waist in order to let them heal. Deep red bands had formed just beneath the knob of her bones there, and her arms were scattered with tiny red dots. Something in her mind was loosening also. He kept her on her toes, acting cruel one minute and gentle the next, never letting her know what to expect. The man had told her he wasn't going to rape her if he didn't have to. He admitted that he wanted to, that he wanted to show her just how easy it would be, but that he was resisting.

"Why?" She had forced herself to ask out loud, cringing when he reached up to tuck a wispy curl behind her ear.

He had cut her dreads off about a week before, unable to stand the feeling of them brushing up against him. It reminded him of rope, her hair all wound up like that, and he didn't like the feeling of them against the skin of his chest or arms when he held her to him. She had cried when he'd done it, and he had licked the tears off her face until she had figured out a way to dry them up. Now her hair was all tiny curls cut close to her scalp, like a prisoner of war that got shorn to avoid getting lice. He was taking her identity apart piece by piece. Soon she would have to look to him for clues on who she was.

"S'not why yer here" he told her now, watching the confusion dance across her features. It was a riddling answer, and he knew that the quest for logic in her mind was never ending. She kept assuming that there was a solution to this problem, a reason why she was here and being treated this way. She didn't realize that all he wanted from her was the total destruction of her psyche.

She was sitting beside him on the bed, an old worn t-shirt of his covering her like a dress. Her hands were in her lap and she was tracing the angry circle scab along her wrist as he spoke. Her mind was wandering, drifting easily on whatever breeze came along because he wouldn't let her tether herself to reality. There was no way for her to mark time or the passing of days. She never saw the sun and he never came at consistent intervals. Every time she asked him how much time had passed since her abduction he wouldn't tell her. That, or he would flat out lie to her, telling her she'd been there for months or even years.

"But then why am i here?" She asked timidly. "I-"

He brought his arm towards her fast and she shielded herself against the blow, her body already riddled with the bruises of previous 'wrong answers'. It never came though. Instead, when she relaxed her body enough to feel it, she realized he was rubbing her shoulder. His fingers felt gentle, but it had been those very same fingers that had almost ripped the tongue out of her mouth the last time she had screamed. Despite the knowledge of what he was capable of, she had to keep reminding herself not to lean into his touch; it felt so good on her sore muscles.

"Cause you need me" He was whispering now, his voice delicate and impossible to resist turning towards. It was like hearing someone say your name just over your shoulder and spinning to look, the way you whip around immediately and scan the area. She shook her head, trying to clear the confusion from it, but he persisted.

"I rescued you" he told her, edging closer when she tried to lean away. "I took you in, gave you food and water"

"You, you - "

Mac let her fumble for a moment, to try and grab at something in her memory, but he cut her off before she could fully form the thought.

"I wanna help you" he insisted, indicating down towards her mangled foot. "I wanna get you fixed so you can walk again"

"So i can walk again" she repeated, more to herself than to him, trying to convince herself that it was safe, that he wasn't trying to trick her. "Yes, yeah i wanna walk"

"Then do what i told you to"

This was where they kept getting stuck. They had been at it for over half an hour now, but Mac wasn't making any progress.

"But i don't want to" she whimpered.

He sighed, leaning back on his arms and letting his neck relax beyond his shoulders. He blew out a breath and counted to three. When she stayed where she was, quietly quaking beside him, he slapped his hands down on his thighs and started to stand.

"Wait, where are you going?" She asked frantically.

"Same place i was going before"

"Can i come?"

"No" he scoffed, as if the answer were too ridiculous to even consider.

He looked at her now as if he were disgusted with her, as if she had done something horrible to disappoint him. She hadn't, he had known she would balk at his request, but he needed to discipline her for refusing just the same. He had offered to take her with him to get fitted for a boot but told her she needed to do something for him first. She was right to hesitate in asking what he wanted, and she had flat out refused once he'd told her. It didn't matter to him. All of this was part of his plan, and she was playing her part just perfectly.

She struggled to stand but he only rolled his eyes and put his arm out, pushing her back down. He acted annoyed, as if he had already explained something simple to her and she was too dumb to understand.

"I need to know that you'll listen to me" he said, dictating his voice as if he were talking to a child.

"I will! I promise i will"

"You can't even follow simple directions"

She opened her mouth to argue but then shut it just as fast. He had told her, step by step, what he wanted, providing more detail than was necessary in his description of events. He knew she wouldn't be able to give him what he wanted, at least not yet, so the offer to bring her was really just something to hold over her.

"I wish i could trust you" he said almost sadly, pulling out the padlock he used to secure the chain he kept her in. "It's such a nice day out too"

"Please let me come" she said desperately, clinging to his shirt with both fists while he hugged the chain up around her waist.

"Stop saying it like i didn't already fuckin' offer" he hissed back at her.

He yanked the links of the chain tight in his hands to drag her flush up against him, crossing one over another and threading the curved handle of the lock through both of them. He lined it up without looking, maintaining eye contact with her and then closing his hand to hear the audible 'click' of the lock engaging. She needed to start reconciling herself with being here with him. It didn't matter if she thought it began as her idea, as something she negotiated, all that mattered was that she gave herself up. Treating her like she had made the choice to stay in the basement was just the beginning.

He left quick after that, deaf to her bargains and pleas as he stomped up the stairs and slammed the door shut. The sound of him locking it was awful. She had no idea when he'd be back, or how long it would be until she felt the sun on her skin again. She had just missed her chance.

It was torture being locked down here, but despite all the time she had to herself she couldn't come up with a plan of escape. Her brain was like mush. It physically hurt to try and focus it, and sometimes she would come back to herself only to realize that he was yelling at her. All the times he had hit or shoved her had accumulated into her body feeling as if it had just been run over, and she hadn't been able to put any weight on her ankle since she'd broken it. She felt defeated, unable to fight him even if she wanted to.

The heroin was the worst of it though. She had dabbled in it in the past but had avoided a full blown addiction thus far. With this guy practically forcing her to take it though she could already feel the effect it was having on her. She felt agitated, like she was suddenly made of only corners and sharpened edges. She wanted a shot she realized, wanted to be out in the sun and fresh air, needed to be out of this fucking basement.

'Next time,' she told herself, lying back because there was nothing else to do. 'Next time ill do what he says and get to go outside'

XxXxXxX

 **Sorry for any typos you find! I'm rushing to post this before i have to go to a wedding :) lemme know what you think! Love love love magz**


	4. Chapter 4

The next time Lilly heard the door to the basement open, she was ready. She was still secured around the middle with a thick linked chain, but in her mind she was already ascending the stairs and heading towards the warm sunlight. She had had a lot of time to think it over, and she wasn't going to waste another opportunity.

She sat waiting on the edge of the bed, psyching herself up when he came around the corner. Except, he never appeared.

Positive she had heard the opening of the door, she tried to figure out why he wasn't coming down. Every other time she had heard the creak of those hinges it had been followed by the thunderous noise of his footsteps. Now though, as she pictured a figure standing still at the top of the stairs, she wondered if maybe it wasn't him. Her mind leapt at the thought of somebody besides her tormentor being the house, and she began to cry out immediately.

"Help!" She screamed, rocketing off the bed and sprinting towards the doorway. She was rewarded by a shooting pain from her ankle, but she ignored it. "I'm down here! Please help"

The chain prevented her from going far but she continued to holler, pausing every now and then to listen for any signs of movement. Finally, right before she was about to give up, the sound of footsteps started. They were different, Lilly was sure of it, and the elation she felt made her eyes start to well up with tears.

"Oh, thank god" she sobbed, preparing to meet her savior. "You've got to help me, this - "

The words died in her throat as the owner of the footsteps rounded the corner. She was right, it wasn't the man who'd been keeping her prisoner, it was something much worse.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Mac could already hear the girls screams when he pulled up into his drive. He saw Dave's car and kicked his door open, slamming it into park and bursting from the still-running vehicle. The gravel he landed on was loose. It slid beneath his feet as he tore off towards the house.

He didn't bother shutting either of the doors he went through, and he took the stairs by three's until he finally just jumped for the landing. When he made it to the room he saw Dave hunched over Lilly, her wrists were caught in both of his hands and he was struggling to force her flat onto her back. Mac caught the man's shoulders and hauled him off of her, throwing him in the direction of the door and then stalking towards him.

"Whad i say," he hollered at him. "I told ya not to go near the fucking basement, dint i?"

The man cowered beneath his hands but then pointed towards Lilly.

"She called out to me!" He insisted, repeatedly jabbing his finger in her direction. "She said she needed help"

Mac rounded on Lilly, both hands in fists at his sides. The veins in his arms were flooded with blood. They stuck out like thick cords beneath his skin.

"Did she now?" He sneered down at the crumbled form by the bed. She had both her arms up over her head and she was trembling. Mac could see where Dave had ripped her clothes. "An whad ya need his help for princess?"

The girl didn't realize Mac was speaking to her so he nudged her with his boot. "Asked you a question pretty girl," he grit out, holding his jaw tight so that the words had to force their way through. "Whad you need this assholes help with?"

"She wanted me to let her go" Dave offered, clearly nervous when the girl continued to give no explanation. Mac glared back at him from over his shoulder but didn't say anything. Dave shut his mouth.

The girl was was fully vibrating at this point, tense with fear and trying to process her emotions with a worn down mind. Mac crouched down in front of her so that he was almost level with her hidden face.

"You mean like i wanted to let you go yesterday?" He asked, his voice sickeningly sweet. "You'd rather let this guy do it?"

Lilly had her eyes screwed tight against the world. Mac could almost hear her counting in her head, trying to will him away. He was a monster much too big to fit under a bed though, and he wasn't going to be ignored.

"Open yer eyes"

When she ignored him, he grabbed her chin and tilted her head painfully, forcing her to acknowledge him. What he saw made his heart race. Her eyes were frantic, giving away all their weaknesses and guarding nothing. Her mind was wide open. He let her go and stood, stepping back in one long stride, as if she suddenly repulsed him.

"Oughta just let you have her then"

At this, the girl finally reacted. She sprang towards Mac, catching one of his legs in her arms and clinging to him. The effect on him was immediate. It felt like a shot of heroin, warm and lubricating, easing over every square inch of his body. He relaxed, exhaling so fully that his shoulders dropped at least two inches. He had her now.

"Oh what?," He taunted her. "You change yer mind? You wanna stay with me now sweetheart?"

He lifted his leg slightly as if he meant to shake her off, but she only held on tighter. One of her tiny hands was gripping the back of his knee. When he took his foot off the ground she reached higher, sinking her fingers into his inner thigh and making his dick twitch. He set his foot back down, squaring his hips and crossing his arms.

"Say it then"

Lilly shook her head and furrowed her brow, agitated and keeping silent. When Mac cleared his throat with an abrupt cough though, she abandoned her stubbornness. She knew it was the signal he gave before he lost all patience, and she had no intention of enraging him if she could avoid it.

"I wanna stay with you"

Her mind wobbled like a dinner plate set down too quick, the motion uncomfortable and hard to follow. Mac acted fast though, seeing the blank stare of confusion her eyes held, and cupped the side of her head in his palm. He held her there, against his thigh, and softly rubbed his thumb across her cheek.

"Good girl" he told her, his voice soft but firm, sounding the way crushed velvet feels.

Lilly relaxed into his touch, the breath leaving her body in a complete exhale. She all but melted against him, her eyes shutting and her head kneading into his leg. Mac smirked. Her cheek was soft beneath the rough pads of his fingers, and it felt good to touch her without her entire body being tense with dread. He savored it for a moment, petting her, and then stepped away from her. This time, after the dose of affection he'd given her, the girl released his leg. Mac turned to point a finger at Dave.

"Get the fuck upstairs, ill deal with you in a minute"

Dave didn't need to be told twice. He took the order as an invitation to be spared, and he fled without giving the girl a second glance. After they had both heard the sound of him tripping up the basement steps, clumsy in his effort to get away, Mac turned to face her again.

"That the kinda man you want sweetheart? A fuckin' coward like him?"

She shook her head. Her palms were flat on the ground in front of her and she was leaning all her weight onto them, her body rocking forward and back. It was curious, the way she fell apart, and Mac was addicted to edging her closer to it. He could tell she was grappling with the comfort he had just provided her; it was easy to see she was searching to find it again without even knowing what she was looking for.

"He said you called out to him," he told her flatly, keeping his curiosity about her crumbling mind disguised. "Why'd ya do that, huh?"

A week ago the girl would have looked at him like he was crazy. Now however, her brain stuttered and stalled at his question. He waited while she struggled to pull the words out of her throat.

"Did you wanna leave with 'em?" He finally prompted her.

She shook her head furiously.

"Don' lie ta me girl"

"I, i just wanted to leave"

Exhaling loudly, Mac crouched down in front of her again, hooking both elbows around his knees and holding onto his own wrist. He dipped his head and stared at her until she brought her eyes up, searching her face for all the clues he needed.

"An go where?"

His voice was soft, hardly more than a whisper, but it hit the girl hard like a fist. She closed her eyes and recoiled away from him, gritting her teeth and allowing him to see inside her glistening mouth. He wanted to kiss her, to find out how soft her tongue was, but his concentration didn't waver.

"Back to that guy in the parking lot? You think he'll take you back after what you did? If it were me id fuckin kill ya"

Lilly cringed, trying to draw back and into herself but unable to retreat from his sinister voice. He leaned closer, almost brushing his cheek against hers, and breathed her in.

"But i don' wanna kill ya," he told her, his voice cutting and biting like a cold wind in her ear. "I wanna keep ya sweetheart"

Mac pulled her to a standing position with him, having to grit his jaw against the aggravation he felt when she made a pathetic sobbing sound. He lifted her up and then set her back down again, encouraging her to find her feet beneath her while still being mindful of her ankle. When she finally understood and supported her own weight, he spun her so that her back was pressed against his front.

The girl tried to hang forward, desperate to be away from him, but it wasn't hard for him to shrug her back into his arms. He tightened them across her chest and pulled her in closer, burying his head into the space where her neck met her shoulders and inhaling deeply. The fear coming off of her was bathing him in rippling waves. It was like a shimmer running through him, an electric shiver that felt like white light bursting out of his nerves endings. It was intoxicating, the smell and the heat, of her terror. He nuzzled her a moment more and then let her go, stepping over her body when she slumped to the floor and exiting the room.

XX

I felt the absence of him as soon as he decided to let me go. It was like a light turning off, the feeling of his attention leaving me, and him shoving me forward to get past me was just an echo. Besides the tangible loss of his body heat, there was also the feeling of true isolation. When he wasn't here nothing happened, nothing mattered. Every moment of value, anything that counted towards staying alive and being alive, involved him.

I pulled the torn sleeve of my shirt back up in a useless attempt to cover my shoulder. He had protected me against that man, that monster who'd discovered me, and the contradiction was wedging itself into the forefront of my mind. If he had wanted to hurt me, or to have me hurt, surely he would have just let that man do it.

The brief moment that followed, almost like a glimpse into a secret, forbidden room in my mind, made my head twitch. Despite the fact that his intentions were deadly, there was also the undeniable rush of being desired. The knowledge pumped my brain full of unwanted chemicals. Was this how a gazelle felt to be chased by a lion? Exhilaration and terror mixed with the feeling of being wanted bad enough to be pursued? It was impossible to ignore the thrill that came with it. Even though it was small, a dwarf compared to the intense fear i felt, one tiny fragment of me felt special to have been chosen.

Suddenly, i shut my eyes and shook a cleansing spasm down and out my spine. My instincts reclaimed themselves, banishing my seductive, previous thoughts and clearing my mind. He had been the one to put me down here and that was why his friend had even had the chance to attack me. This was still his fault, his doing, and he wasn't a hero just because he had stopped that man from raping me.

My eyes shot open at the word. So far the man who had taken me hadn't done that and i was surprised. I knew he wanted to. Every time he hugged me to him i could feel that part of him thickening and heating up with the blood his body sent rushing to it. He would adjust it with his hand to line it up between my legs but never tried to put it inside me. Still though, i could feel the way it pulsed when he pressed his hips against my ass, and i didn't have to hold it in my hand to know how big it was.

My body convulsed again, trying to rid me of something, and i looked around to realize i was still on the floor. My legs were bare and cold so i carefully climbed back onto the bed and covered myself with the small blanket. He hadn't killed the lights, which meant that he might be coming back down, so i tried to find a safe spot in my mind to rest while i waited.

I couldn't find it though. Every time i shut my eyes, every time i tried to form any kind of thought inside my mind, he interrupted it. I could smell him and i could hear him, almost as if he were sitting right next to me. His presence haunted me. I buried myself into the mattress and inhaled as deeply as i could, preferring the smell of mold to the stinging sensation of motor oil burning in my nostrils. It made my dizzy, the scent of him.

I was light and airy, high off fumes and floating up and away. I caught myself recalling the pressure of his body, the way the weight of him held me down, and my eyes shot open again. It was happening more and more now, this confusion clouding my mind. Sometimes i caught myself wishing for him. I tried to reassure myself it was because his figure meant something, food was coming or maybe even something to dull the tremendous pain in my leg, but it was useless to lie to myself. Something was slowly replacing the fear i always felt when he came near me, i just hadn't accepted it yet.

The sound of shouting came from above me, followed by the slamming of doors and the peeling of tires. At first i was elated, thinking the newcomer had left. Then the terror of the alternative, the man I was used to speeding off and leaving me with the blackened smile of that man 'Dave', sank in quick. I physically recoiled from the thought, my chin dropping and my lips slamming shut as though i were actually about to get sick.

The third thought was the worst of all though. It was like getting hit in the chest with a sledgehammer. Either it didn't matter who was still upstairs, both men resulting in the same dismal fate for me, or it mattered very much. Just the fact that the latter existed, meant i was farther gone than i thought. When i had first arrived here, where ever 'here' was, i had still had my wits about me. I knew the man keeping me prisoner was my enemy, that he was something to escape, and i had been able to use my hatred for him as fuel.

Now though, sitting on this bed, absentmindedly itching my scabs and peeling back layers of my lips with my teeth, i could acknowledge how things had changed. He didn't hit me anymore. Or if he did, it wasn't just for nothing like it had been before, when every single thing i did had resulted in some kind of horrible contact. My skull surged at the thought as soon as it developed. It felt like trying to force something through a filter it didn't quite fit into, and I had to press on my forehead to try to dull the sudden headache that erupted there. There was something wrong, something i wasn't seeing, but i couldn't name it.

People weren't supposed to hit other people, that was something they got in trouble for, wasn't it? I shook my head against the swelling pain developing just above my eyes. I had to remember that those laws didn't apply here anymore, had to keep reminding myself that there was a new set of rules to learn. I had already tried to use my logic and reasoning from the previous world to get this guy to let me go, and all i had ended up with were bruises and broken bones. I stared angrily down at my useless ankle, as if it were an entity separate of me, something i could blame for all my troubles.

Since the injury he had been different towards me, but I couldn't figure out which one of us had changed. Was I simply too weak to resist him the way i had been? Or had his demeanor been the one to shift? Did he feel badly?

The door to the basement creaked open, cutting off the dialog i was having and obliterating my headache. All my muscles tensed as the sound of footsteps started. It was easy to abandon the thoughts i had just been wrestling with just a moment ago, and i openly prayed it would be the man i was familiar with who rounded the corner. I could hear myself saying 'please' over and over again, a tiny puff of air that passed almost silently over my chapped lips. I could have sobbed with relief when he stepped to stand in the doorway, his bulk somehow comforting instead of only threatening.

"Happy to see me?" He smirked, his arms folded over his chest and one shoulder leaning against the door frame.

Just then, I felt something snap in my mind, some kind of connection being severed and the pieces falling away from each other. It was like the ends of a cloth tearing and then drifting in separate directions on a breeze, something crucial that had always been whole but had suddenly been irreparably damaged. I could see it, the fracture that had occurred, but I couldn't remember what the bridge had been for.

Suddenly, i felt shy. It was as if the boy i liked had walked into the classroom. Even though it was absurd i caught myself ducking my head as if i could avoid his attention, all the while unsure if i really wanted to. I heard the flick of his zippo lighter and i brought my eyes back up.

"Wanna go outside?"

XxXxXxX

 **Sorry this has been so delayed! I have lots of excuses, if you're interested, but i wont bore you with them. I'm really trying to take my time with Lilly's dissolution but what do you guys think ? I'm torn between her totally falling apart or keeping a part of herself intact so she can escape .. does anybody really want that though? Every time the OC escapes Mac in any other fan fiction im always praying that he gets her back - looking at you 'captive heart', i was rooting for Mac to find her as soon as she got away from him. Which, if you haven't read that story by foreverreedusfan, maybe stop whatever you're doing and go read it :) also, anything by Krissyg927.**

 **Ive almost got my other chapter for "friction" completed so be on the lookout for that :) leave a review if you have any ideas! Thanks for reading**


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